Christmas Collection: He's a Brick House!

One of my favorite icons of the season is kinda an odd one but it's Bricks!  Fireplaces, chimneys, facades... I just love it!

The above piece is one I have had for 17 years or so and probably my most favorite Christmas collectible I own.

This is an odd broken bit of brick decor I picked up from a thrift decades ago.  It's a music box (and still kinda works playing a very dragged down version of Here comes Santa Claus) missing the plastic dancing Santa.  You can see his broken boot he left behind in the middle of the gifts.  I have several of these kind of flocked dancing Santas that I shove one into the shoe when I set this up.  I like the bonus idea here to wrap mini gifts in aluminum foil then covered in colored cellophane with sparkly pipecleaners for the ribbon.

I put these two guys together since they have the same thing going on, popping out of chimneys.  The one on the left is plastic and the Santa can be pushed all the way to the top.  He's also one of those puppet deals where you push the spring up and his limbs are on strings and he goes limp and dead.  He's got a really 'duh...." face.  Not much going on upstairs.

The other Santa on the right is a homemade ornament that I picked up at a thrift.

I love this guy!  I got him and the pop up Santa above at a huge vintage Christmas downsizing sale I went to several years ago.

Aren't these drinking glasses fun?  They tell the story of why you need to leave Santa a veggie tray instead of cookies.

I have had these plastic houses for decades.  It wasn't until setting them side by side for this photo that I realized they are exactly the same, only each is missing bits and/or something has been relocated.  I got thses at a thrift 20+ years go for 50 ¢ each.

I found this card holder a couple of years back at a thrift store.  He's a bit bedraggled but worth it for the long brick chimney.  We clip our past family Christmas photos on it each year.

This vintage little paper chimney is a coin bank/saver freebie gift from a bank.

I have a love/hate relationship with this ceramic Santa planter.  I picked it up many years ago at a thrift.  Once I started looking at it I became disturbed by Santa's inappropriate spread eagle stance.  However PB thought it was hilarious and loves this tacky thing because I hate it.  I wanted to re-donate it but now I pull it out every year, even decorate with it, and remind PB that when he moves out "Santa asking for a diaper change" is coming along with him.

If you love Christmas brick as much as I do then the ultimate item to have is a cardboard fireplace!

I have two.  

Here is the neat back on the box.  I would love to be able to copy that and make a wall decor piece from it...not cutting up the original box!

This is the box to my second fireplace.  Each one is a little different so I have just kept them both.  I got the first one from ebay over 20 years ago.  The second one was won for me by a family member at a local auction around the same time.

Here is the above fireplace set up:

(Side note of how to make Tacky Sweater Stockings)

I also like to make Christmas Crafts for gift giving featuring fireplaces, brick chimneys:

This cardboard fireplace is the vehicle for the loaf log tucked inside.  I couldn't find paper with a brick pattern so I used a red and black buffalo check wrapping paper that had the bonus of being reversible with wood grain on the other side. More on the How To: Log Loaves and Fireplaces

For Christmas Sweets giving in 2021 I made these chimney containers:

Gosh these are so cute!  I wish I would have made myself one.  

(The How To here: Santa's Chimney of Sweets)

So there is my Christmas Brick House doodads and what-nots.

 As a side note, do you remember when grocery stores would wrap the interior support columns in a corrugated brink cardboard at the holidays?! I miss seeing that!

Here's a couple of mid-century grocery views featuring brick decor.

I'd sell what's left of my soul for that inflatable snowman....

 And I just realized!  That's the same woman in both photos!  She's making her rounds to all the great brick Christmas displays just like I would have done!